


The Secrets of Kyoshi Hill

by phieillydinyia



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bending (Avatar), Drama, Epic Sledding Fails, Epic Sledding Successes, F/M, Friendship, Fun, Hurt/Comfort, Kataang - Freeform, Katoph friendship, Kyoshi Hill, Love, Romance, Secret Relationship, Secrets, Sled-Cheating, Sledding, Snow, Snowball Fight, Taang Friendship, Tokka Friendship, Toph Can't See Through Snow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-15 03:42:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29182731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phieillydinyia/pseuds/phieillydinyia
Summary: In order to cheer Sokka up, Katara suggests the Gaang meet up to go sledding. Their manipulation of the elements is sure to make the whole thing more exciting. Everyone wants to have fun, but no one wants to reveal the secrets they've been hiding... Modern day AU. One-shot. Kataang. Bending still exists. Disclaimer: I do not own the show or any of the characters.
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	The Secrets of Kyoshi Hill

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my very first Avatar: The Last Airbender fanfiction! I thought I'd do an AU set in modern times, because I simply don't think I know enough about the world Avatar is originally set in and therefore, would get things wrong. So, this basically a bit like Rebublic City, where all nations live together in harmony.
> 
> I originally planned for this one-shot purely to be fluff, but if I'm being perfectly honest, I can't write fluff. Never have done, never will. It's too dull and I hate it. So I added some drama in with the fluff, but it's mostly just normal teenage drama so it's fine :D

“Ughh,” Sokka groaned from under Katara’s pillow as he lay on her bed. “Suki is the most infuriating person I have ever met! I thought we really had something special, y’know?”

Katara straightened from her hunched position over her homework and swiveled her chair round, pen still in her hand. “I’m sorry… _why_ are you in my room again?”

“Cuz I need _someone_ to vent to!” Her brother sat up, pillow falling off his face. “Did you see what she posted on social media today?” He angrily retrieved his phone from his pocket and waved it in front of her face.

Katara raised her eyebrow at the photo of Suki with a guy’s arms wrapped around her from behind, both of them smiling. She recognized him to be Jet, a boy from their school.

“ _My life is incomplete without you_ ,” Sokka quoted the caption, his tone filled with venom. “We broke up two days ago! _Two days, Katara!_ ”

Katara sighed. While she received a certain amount of joy from watching Sokka’s life unravel – as any sister would – she couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. She, too, had believed Sokka and Suki were something special. And so, she was determined to do what she could to cheer him up.

Katara glanced out of the window and smirked. It had been snowing all day, so everything was coated in a rich white color that stretched on for miles.

“I’m tired of homework. Why don’t we text the others and go sledding together?”

It was Sokka’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “Sledding? What are we, six?”

His sister huffed and stood up. “Alright then. Suit yourself,” she said, and left swiftly through her bedroom door.

Sokka realized what she was doing. And he didn’t even care if he fell for it. “Wait!” He quickly stood and followed her out. “ _I didn’t say no!_ ”

* * *

Katara grinned and looked up from her phone, watching as Sokka pulled their two old and rickety sleds out from the garden shed.

“Zuko – the idiot – has been putting off his homework all week, so now he has to spend his entire weekend catching up. But Aang and Toph are free. They’re gonna meet us on top of Kyoshi Hill.”

“Okay, but so have you,” Sokka retorted, handing her the rope to one of the sleds. “Putting off homework, I mean. You’ve been super distracted all week, and I’m sure you’ve barely even _been_ home.”

Katara shrugged and began walking, her winter boots trudging loudly in the deep snow. “It doesn’t matter. I’m top of my class, and Miss Wu’s favorite pupil. I’m sure she’d let me off on a few missing assignments.”

“Yea but even so,” Sokka pressed, dashing to keep up with her. Their blue sleds trailed behind them as they started the trek towards the hill. “Where do you keep going every evening? Dad may be asleep but believe it or not, _I’m_ still awake at midnight when you come home and slam the front door as loud as you can.”

Katara winced. “It’s loud? Sorry, I thought I was being quiet…” Realizing her slip, she quickly steeled herself. “Anyway, since when is my personal life any of your business? Butt out!”

“I’m just worried that– MFTH!” Sokka was immediately silenced by the flurry of snow his sister had just bent into his face. Muttering angrily about how she was “gonna pay for that later”, he shook it off. But he knew better than to pursue the topic further. 

They completed the rest of the journey in mostly silence. Their matching woolen hats were originally blue, but the snow was falling down on them so thickly that they had since turned white.

“Oi, Sugar Queen! Snoozles! Over here!” The voice of their best friend alerted the siblings to the fact that they were walking the wrong way. Kyoshi Hill had two ‘paths’ on either side leading to the top (to stop people walking up from getting slammed into by sleds), and their friends were waiting by the base of the other one. Katara and Sokka hastily changed courses.

Toph was waving madly at them, her green bobble hat wobbling on her head as she did so. In fact, she was dressed from head to toe in green. Katara wondered how she could have such a love for a color she’d never even seen before.

Toph’s other arm was linked up with Aang’s, who was grinning broadly beside her. She tended to hold onto someone or something when her feet weren’t on solid ground. The blind girl would often voice her complaints to her friends about how she couldn’t see properly on surfaces like wood, sand, or snow.

But of course, this never stopped her from having fun. She’d brought her own green sled along to prove that point.

“I’ve been yelling at you guys for ages and you just completely ignored me!” Toph snapped at them as they approached.

“Well, not all of us have supersonic hearing,” said Katara, but she was smiling.

She glanced over at Aang and noticed he was the only one not wearing a coat. Or a hat. In fact, he was only wearing a t-shirt. Katara sometimes found herself feeling jealousy towards the fact that airbenders could control air currents around them and keep themselves warm. Meanwhile, she had to wrap up like a piñata.

“I’ll race you all to the top!” Aang said with enthusiasm, taking off immediately with his yellow sled tucked under one arm. 

Laughing, Katara rolled her eyes. He knew well enough that he would win, considering _someone_ has to ‘escort’ Toph up the hill. Katara went to fill the role Aang had abandoned while Sokka charged after the airbender.

“So, how are things going with Duke?” Katara asked suggestively, as she and her friend linked arms and starting walking at a slower pace.

“There are no things going on with Duke,” Toph said bluntly. “He’s just a friend.”

“Really?” The waterbender didn’t even try to hide her disappointment. “I could have sworn you guys had chemistry. He seemed really into you.”

“Must have been one-sided then,” Toph shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m just not ready to date yet.”

“That’s okay!” Katara was quick to reassure her. “You’re only fourteen. You’ll be ready when the right guy comes along!”

“Yeah… The right guy.” The earthbender sounded unconvinced.

They’d reached the top, and the boys were excitedly yelling at the girls to get on their sleds.

“Okay, this is the real race!” Aang announced, once they were all lined up, side by side and ready for launch. “No cheating, no bending, first one to slide past the tree wins. But spoiler alert, you guys are all gonna lose!”

“No way, my sled is way faster than yours!” Sokka argued. “I’ve seen yours in action – I swear you go at the speed of a baby rabbit-turtle.”

“Well, this baby rabbit-turtle is about to prove you wrong.”

Katara stifled a laugh. She swore Aang and Sokka lost all sense of maturity when they got together.

“Three, two, one, GO!”

This little fiasco of theirs continued for a solid half an hour. Sometimes it was competitive sledding, and sometimes it was just for fun. It was eventually decided that Aang did indeed have the fastest sled, something Sokka could not stop sulking about.

“Lighten up already!” Toph said, on one of her trips being led up the hill by Sokka. “You can’t be the best at everything.”

“It’s fine,” he huffed. “I’m pretty sure he’s cheating anywa–”

Toph felt Sokka go tense. He promptly dropped her arm from his. “You good there, Snoozles?” she asked.

He didn’t respond. So Toph was forced to listen out for anything that could give her a clue as to what he’d seen.

There were many other people on the hill, laughing and talking as they dragged and rode sleds up and down. But Toph has exceptional abilities. Sure enough, she eventually zoned in one voice in particular. A familiar girl’s voice giggling.

“Suki,” the earthbender stated softly. “She’s here, isn’t she? With that guy.”

“With _Jet_ ,” Sokka spat. “They’re riding down on one sled together like a couple of idiots.”

Toph shuffled her feet nervously. She wasn’t very good at being ‘comforting’.

Luckily, she suddenly came up with a much more fun plan. “Then let’s be idiots too! Sit on the back of _my_ sled, and we’ll go down together!” She swiftly dragged him towards what she hoped was the direction of her sled. “And guess what? We’re better than those idiots. Because we have _bending_!”

“Wait, what?” Sokka asked, as he sat behind her on the sled. “But Toph, you can’t see through the sno-AAAHHHHHHH!” Toph kicked them into action before he could finish his sentence.

With a jerk of her fist, she pulled up the earth beneath the snow in front of them, into a ramp shape.

“SWEET SPIRIRTS, WE’RE GONNA DIE!” Sokka shrieked as the speeding sled went flying off the ‘ramp’ into the air. They landed back on the snow with a thud, gaining momentum.

“WHOOOO!” Toph screamed with delight. “Let’s try that again!”

She bent up the second ramp. But due to her lack of contact with the actual earth, and by extension her lack of vision, she bent it slightly to the left, causing her sled to hit it and tip violently sideways. To stop them both rolling off, Sokka shifted his weight to the other side and the sled dropped back down. It hadn’t slowed down in the slightest.

“Whoops, sorry about that!” Toph hollered, as the wind raced past her face. “Don’t worry, I’ve got it this time!”

“I’M WORRIED, I’M WORRIED!” the older boy voiced his concerns as his friend bent up yet another mound of earth in front of them. This was probably her worst one yet. This one definitely wasn’t going to lift them into the air.

Sokka realized what was about to happen a little too late. “TOPH! YOU NEED TO–” Their sled smashed into Toph’s sad excuse for a ramp, breaking it apart and sending them both hurling forwards through the air screaming.

Toph face-planted the thick snow a few moments later, and then heard the same thing happen to Sokka. Grunting, she rolled over and got up, wiping clusters of snow off her hair.

“Well, that was fun!” she insisted cheerily. “Do you feel better now?”

“That was the single most scariest thing I’ve ever been through in my life,” Sokka groaned. He noticed Toph’s sled was now in pieces, and completely unrepairable. “Looks like we’re sharing _my_ sled from now on. But no more earthbending! And for the love of Yue, get rid of that rock before another poor soul smashes into it!”

Katara and Aang had been watching Toph and Sokka from the top of the hill, completely shocked by Toph’s daring maneuver. Once they realized their friends were alright, they turned back to each other.

“Y’know,” Aang grinned, his gray eyes already twinkling with mischief, “we could try that too. Share a sled and use bending to make it better. But unlike Toph, we’ll be able to actually _see_.”

Katara nodded in approval. “I don’t see why not. But leave the waterbending to _me_ , Avatar.”

And naturally, their sled ride went off without any complications. With two master benders (some might even argue prodigies) controlling the reigns, why wouldn’t it? Katara bent the snow from side to side so their sled swiveled about like a helter-skelter ride. Aang propelled the air behind them to make them go even faster. At one point they were spinning in full circles.

“Oh, come on, you can do better than this!” Aang encouraged her from behind.

Snickering, Katara created an enormous ice ramp, miles better than any of Toph’s. As they approached it, Aang increased their pace tenfold, causing them to shoot off it and into the air at a breakneck speed. They both whooped with joy, momentarily floating out of their seats as the sled soared. Any normal person would have been in danger of death from this height. But of course, Aang caught them with airbending, allowing them to fall softly back onto the slow, sled still intact.

“Oh, my spirits!” Katara laughed, her heart going a million miles per hour as they both scrambled to their feet, Aang helping her up. “I can’t believe we don’t do that more often!”

“I know, that was amazing!” Aang agreed, turning to face her. It might have been because he was pumping with adrenaline, but Aang suddenly forgot they were in public, and leaned forward to kiss her.

Katara must have forgotten too because she threw her arms around him and kissed him back. It took them a solid two seconds to gain some common sense and pull away.

“Monkey feathers, did we just–?” Aang began nervously, but then followed Katara’s gaze and stopped talking. She was looking at Sokka, and Sokka was looking right back at them. He was only halfway down the hill with Toph, but his expression was drained of any joy he might have been showing moments ago. He seemed more shocked than anything.

Their sled skidded to a halt at the bottom. “What was that?” Sokka demanded, standing up. Toph stayed sitting down, sensing that things were about to get heated. “Did you just kiss my sister?”

“Um…” Aang awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. “Yes?”

Katara sighed. “I’ll admit, we didn’t want you to find out this way.”

“Find out?!” Sokka repeated, and glared angrily at Aang. “Wait _, this has happened before?_ ”

“Only for the past week or so,” Aang hurriedly reassured him. “But we’ve liked each other for a lot longer than th–”

“Past week, huh?” Sokka slowly put the pieces together in his head. He rounded on his sister. “Is that why you’ve been late home every night? You were meeting up with Aang?!”

“Okay, fine, _yes!_ ” Katara snapped back. “There’s a secret den we like to hang out in. But it’s not a big deal, because we mostly just talk.”

“ _Mostly?!_ ”

“But either way, it still isn’t any of your business and you have no right to be angry with me about it. Who I choose to date is up to me!”

But Sokka had already stopped listening. He scooped up a snowball and threw it harshly in the direction of Aang’s head. The airbender ducked under it with ease. Realizing this wasn’t going to work, Sokka began to straight-up chase him, shouting furiously.

“Oh Sokka, grow up!” Katara yelled, as Aang made a mad dash away from her angry brother.

“I’M GONNA KILL YOU, AIRHEAD! YOU HEAR ME?”

Thinking fast, Aang hopped onto the back of Toph’s sled, making the girl flinch.

“Hey!” Toph barked. “This is _my_ sle–!”

“Hold on tight!” he suggested, before the sled jerked into action. It defied the laws of gravity as it raced back up the hill with the help of Aang’s airbending.

Toph shrieked with surprise. “WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING, TWINKLETOES?”

“COME BACK HERE!” Sokka bellowed, stubbornly chasing after them on foot. _Aang’s making it go fast_ , Sokka thought. _Almost as fast as when they were–_ “HEY! I KNEW YOU WERE CHEATING BEFORE, YOU LITTLE VIPER-RAT!”

Aang didn’t slow the sled down until they were back at the top of the hill, and he hid them behind a clump of trees for good measure. He glanced round to check that Sokka was still very far away – just an angry dot in the distance.

“Okay, we’re safe now,” he panted. “Sorry about that, Toph.”

Toph was scowling in his direction, but she couldn’t stay mad for long. “I’m sure Sokka will come around,” she shrugged. “You’re his best friend after all.”

“Yea… Let’s hope,” Aang replied, his tone laced with worry.

Toph exhaled sadly, absent-mindedly messing around with the snow beside her. She was still sitting in the sled. “So… you and Katara.”

Aang’s smile appeared again. “I didn’t expect it to happen either,” he said, sitting down next to her. Snow continued to fall around them. “But she actually likes me back! And now, well… things are better than ever.”

The earthbender smirked. “Well, it’s about time. I’ve been feeling both your heartbeats go crazy whenever you’re together for months now!”

She was laughing, but Aang could tell it was forced. He frowned with concern. “Toph… what’s wrong?”

Toph hesitated on replying. She was torn between brushing him off in her typical ‘Toph’ fashion, or telling him the genuine truth. She finally settled on the truth, since if she couldn’t bring herself to tell Aang, she’d never be able to tell _anyone_.

“I think I’m just jealous,” she confessed. “Not of you and Katara exactly. But of… what you have together.”

Aang thought he knew what she meant. “Toph, you know you _will_ find someo–”

“No,” she cut him off. “That’s not it. I just… don’t think I’ll be able to do what you do.”

“What? _Date?_ ”

“Yes, date,” Toph said through gritted teeth, mentally kicking herself over how dumb she sounded.

Aang considered his next question, picking up on the fact that Toph was finding this hard. “Do you… have something against dating?”

“Not exactly. I just have something against… _guys_.”

Aang blinked in confusion. “Oh?” Then her words finally sunk in. “ _Oh!_ ”

Toph continued to muck around with the snow, remaining silent.

“Toph, there’s nothing wrong with–”

“Yes, there is!” she seethed, flailing her hands about for emphasis. “You know what kind of town we live in! These small-minded people would hate me being–… They’d _judge_ me if I just… if I–!”

Aang gently grabbed hold of her wrists. She couldn’t see his face but Toph knew he was looking at her with sympathy. Maybe sadness too. “I’m sorry, Toph. I wish I had a solution for that. But…” He sighed. “You know your _friends_ will always love you, right? Me and Katara and Sokka. It doesn’t matter to us who you are.”

Toph knew she was on the verge of tears, so she quickly changed the attitude surrounding them. “Ugh, Twinkletoes, you don’t have to get soppy on me.” She pulled her arms free and stood up. “Let’s just go back to the others. Sokka has probably calmed down by now.”

Aang smiled, gathering up the sled. “Yea, okay.”

“But thanks,” Toph said quietly, as they linked arms so she wouldn’t go blindly walking into trees. “You’re a good friend.”

* * *

Meanwhile, Katara was indignantly chasing after her brother up the snow-covered hill. “Sokka! Sokka, wait for me!”

Realizing he wasn’t going to catch up to the Avatar, he groaned and turned round to face his sister. “I know what you’re gonna tell me, Katara. That I should respect yours and Aang’s decision and stop taking it so personally.”

“More or less,” Katara retorted, standing in front of him with her hands on her hips. “Is that so hard?”

“Yes!” Sokka argued. “You’re my baby sister. It’s my job to–”

“To protect me? Yes, maybe to a point. But that doesn’t mean trying to attack my boyfriend!” Katara hadn’t meant to let the last word slip. She’d never actually confirmed with Aang what they were. But it was too late to take it back, so she just went with it. “And not only that, but my boyfriend is _Aang_. He’s your friend! Surely, if anyone were going to date me, you’d want it to be Aang, right?”

“Well, yes, but–”

“But what?!”

“But it’s not fair!” Sokka’s voice cracked. He quickly cleared his throat and continued. “You get to date your _best friend_ , Katara. That’s the dream! I didn’t get that! I just got a girl who cheated on me, and then broke up with me to–!”

“So, this is about Suki?” Katara’s voice dropped several levels in volume.

Sokka’s shoulders slumped. “So what if it is?”

The siblings stood in silence for a moment, the cold winter breeze blowing over them.

“Well, it’s her loss,” Katara decided, and then stepped forward to put her arms around her brother.

“Hey, I never said I wanted a hug!” Sokka was acutely aware that she was his sister, and they were in public.

“I don’t care,” Katara replied, voice muffled by his coat. “I’m giving you a hug.”

Eventually giving in, Sokka reciprocated her embrace.

And that’s how Toph and Aang found them when they returned. Or more correctly, Aang found them. If Toph had been able to see through snow, she probably would have teased them.

Sokka pulled away from his sister to address Aang, who looked back nervously. It was hard to imagine that the Avatar was scared of one non-bender. But of course, Sokka wasn’t just any non-bender.

“I’m sorry about calling you an airhead,” Sokka said in all seriousness. “And for throwing a snowball at you… And for chasing you… Basically I’m sorry I was a jerk. The truth is, it was never you I was angry at.” His eyes were automatically drawn towards the girl on the other side of the hill, as she once again slid down the slope with her new boyfriend.

The rest of the gang (save for Toph) followed his gaze.

Narrowing her eyes at the girl, Katara subtly flicked her wrist, creating a solid mound of ice hidden beneath the snow. As she’d hoped, the sled crashed right into it.

Suki and Jet screamed as they flipped over the sled, mirroring Toph and Sokka’s actions from earlier, and then fell into the snow. The group laughed loudly as they watched the pair struggle to get up.

“Okay, _now_ I feel better,” Sokka admitted between guffaws.

It appeared that someone had taken it upon themselves to ruin Sokka’s newfound good mood, because a snowball immediately collided with the side of his face. Sokka glared at the two waterbenders in the group, and decided that Katara looked more guilty.

He grabbed his own snowball and hurled it at her. Katara ducked, causing it to smack Toph squarely in the face. “Hey! Whoever threw that, just you wait! As soon as we’re on land, I’m gonna throw _rock_ balls at you!” Toph made a snowball too and threw it back, but accidentally hit Aang in the face instead.

The four of them suddenly found themselves in the middle of an intense snowball fight.

“Hey, this isn’t fair!” Sokka cried, as he tried to dodge snowballs coming at him from all sides. “You two can _bend_ snow and I can’t!”

“ _You_ think it’s unfair!” Toph snapped, who didn’t even have the facilities to dodge. “I can’t see them coming!”

Katara and Aang seemed to realize this too, because they left the two of them alone, and rounded on each other. But the snowballs never reached their target because both of them could just bend them away.

So they eventually began to cheat. Katara hit Aang with a snowball from behind so he couldn’t see it coming. Aang shifted the snow beneath her feet to trip her up. Katara sent a massive wave of snow towards him. Aang melted it in time with his firebending.

“Oh, bringing the other elements into this, are we?” Katara mocked him. “Don’t have the guts to take on a master waterbender with water alone? Well so be it!” She dodged the air strike he sent at her, before bending a giant snowball towards him, which Aang caught and sent right back at her.

Sokka half-heartedly watched the two of them spar. “You’d think since they’re dating now, they’d be a little nicer to each other,” he said to Toph, who stood beside him.

It appeared he spoke too soon. Because Aang suddenly used an air-current to pull Katara forwards and into his arms. Katara laughed and kissed him, not even caring if anyone saw.

Despite what he’d said earlier, Sokka felt his brotherly instincts flare up. Toph put a hand on his arm to stop him from doing something stupid. Sokka slowly relaxed back on his heels and sighed. He wasn’t completely comfortable with this. But that was okay.

After all, his Water Tribe culture was the element of change. Surely, he could adapt to this too.


End file.
